


I Misinterpreted an Acronym Because I Wanted to Fight You, but Now We’re Dating?

by sleepilychaotic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Pidge Uses They/Them Pronouns, half my tags are about pidge and they're barely in this, hunk is the mom friend that everyone asked for, it's complicated - Freeform, keith is a g a y boi, lance is a little shit, pidge is in a relationship with peanut butter, yes you read the tags right
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-09 06:17:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11098650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepilychaotic/pseuds/sleepilychaotic
Summary: Keith: I think I know what DTF meansHunk: what?Keith: down to fightHunk: yeah totallyKeith: sweetHunk: you should tell LanceKeith: GOOD IDEA





	1. Even When I Try To Avoid You, You're Everywhere I Fucking Go

**Author's Note:**

> I have no regrets. I live on comments so do that if you want to. I mean, you don't have to. And I certainly can't make you. But comments are super nice and motivate me to post more?
> 
> the song lyrics at the beginning of the chapters are from a song called "I hate you/I love you" by emmanoodle on youtube. Check her out she's adorable and her music is really cute. I heard her song and IMMEDIATELY thought klance so... yikes™
> 
> ALSO  
> I DON'T SPEAK SPANISH  
> I SPEAK FRENCH AND THAT'S KINDA THE SAME BUT IT'S ALSO NOT  
> SO IF YOU SPEAK SPANISH  
> HELP  
> ME  
> PLS

* * *

_I hate you_  
_You probably hate me too_  
_I don't know why I even try anymore_  
_And I probably shouldn't care anymore_  
  
_But, you're all that's ever on my mind_  
_No matter how hard I try_  
_And even when I try to avoid you_  
_You're everywhere I fucking go_

* * *

 

**12:07㏂**

_blink_

**12:08㏂**

Wasting the night watching his alarm clocks green numbers blink and change every 60 seconds isn’t how the red lion pilot thought he would be spending his free time, and yet here we are.

Keith huffed and rolled over for a few seconds before deciding that watching the time pass was far more interesting than watching his grey wall do nothing.

**12:09㏂**

The temperamental Paladin sighed angrily and jumped out of bed.

“I’m going to the pool,” he muttered to no one.

Keith often found himself talking to no one. A few weeks ago he even had a long conversation with his knife, after which he promptly named it Stabby. It was comforting, talking to Stabby. It might sound crazy to the others, but to Keith it gave his tiny room a cozy sort of feeling. Like a home. He knew Stabby would be waiting under his pillow when he came back, so what harm did it do giving the knife a persona?

Keith always felt like a bit of an outsider on Voltron. He didn’t belong like the others did. They all had each other, and Keith- well, Keith had Stabby. They just all got along so well. Despite apologising for being racist, Keith felt like he couldn’t be around Allura anymore, and he was pretty sure she was busy flirting with Pidge who was oblivious as ever to the Princess. Coran was always talking to Allura about the castle or old memories, or he talked to Pidge about something sciency? Keith zoned out at the first mention of math. Hunk and Pidge were bros and practically always together, which meant the yellow pilot was out. Shiro, space dad of the century, seemed to be the most approachable one. He and Keith seemed to have a special bond, but he was busy with Pidge as they both tried to find Matt. Even Slav, who was obnoxious as hell, was always busy talking science with Pidge or “modifying” the castle to annoy Coran.

 **_Why the hell does everyone love Pidge so much?!_ **  Keith thought angrily to himself. _What does Pidge have that I don’t? They’re just a socially awkward, sassy, tech nerd!_

And then there was Lance.

 _Lance_.

Just thinking about the arrogant blue pilot made Keith’s blood boil.

 _Just who does that brat think he is?_ Keith thought to himself as he dismissively pushed the elevator button to the pool deck.

Keith didn’t hate Lance, no matter how much he pretends to, Lance just has a way of getting under his skin. What is up with that kid and his stupid rivalry? Keith barely remembered him from flight school, just that he was a loud and _annoying_ pilot- the type of kids Keith tried to avoid. But it seems like ever since they joined Voltron, Lance had this obsession of proving he was better than Keith.

Keith thought Lance hated him, and that he hated Lance. But then Lance was dying, and as Keith cradled him in his arms, he couldn’t help but notice how dead Lance looked. How light weight he was. How cold his skin felt. How pale the normally darker Paladin was. When Lance finally blinked those gorgeous blue eyes open, how relieved Keith felt that his comrade was still alive.

 _Because they were_ **just** _comrades_. Keith thought, as the elevator made the familiar hum as it descended down throughout the castle. It’s not like Keith wanted to be friends or anything.

The doors open suddenly, drawing Keith out of his fantasy of what a friendship with the over arrogant blue pilot would be like.

“Hey, Red.” A beat. “What are you doing here?”

 _That voice._ Keith would recognise that voice anywhere. But, there was no sarcasm laced through those words this time. There was no bite at the end of the sentence. No flirty tone getting under his skin like an itch he just can’t seem to reach. There was none of that. Just surprise.

 _Lance sounds tired,_ Keith realised after a minute. _Tired and maybe a little sad?_ Keith tried to think of what the blue paladin had to be sad about. Didn’t he tell Allura about his family on Earth at dinner one night? Could it be that he was just missing them? Keith didn’t ever really have a home, so he wondered if being homesick could explain why the other pilot was up at 12:10 in the morning. He knows that Pidge has trouble sleeping, but they’re worried about their captured brother and father. That’s different. No one captured Lance’s family, they were safe. So why did he sound so sad?

Keith looks at Lance now, sees the bags under his eyes. Sees how tight with stress his muscles look. Sees how the normally bright smile of the boy is now reduced to a fine, thin line. _This doesn’t look like Lance,_ Keith thinks. Lance is all loud laughter and sun kissed skin. He’s a walking ray of sunshine with an obnoxiously dramatic flare. He looks like summer and acts likes a fucking child, eagerly bouncing from one thing to another- barely stopping on anything. Keith had never seen Lance slow down for anything. No fleeting interest could quite capture his wild heart. But now his bright blue eyes, the eyes that would make the sky jealous, were downcast and grey. As if a spring storm had rolled in and chased away the ocean blue Keith was so used to seeing.

Realising he has been quiet for far too long, Keith opens his mouth to speak. To ask the boy if he’s okay. Maybe see what’s troubling him so much. But as always, he’s too late. He’d barely breathed out the breath he was holding before he saw Lance’s melancholy face morph into a scowl.

“Oh I see how it is. You’re ignoring me now. Great, you’re a real funny guy, Red. Real funny.” With an angry huff, Lance dived under the water and Keith lost sight of him.

Keith suddenly remembered why he didn't like this overconfident asshole. Lance surfaces silently and Keith is on him.

“I’m not ignoring you, jerk! I was thinking, I know you’re unfamiliar with the concept as you only have 3 brain cells, but it’s something normal people do before they open their big mouths and say stupid shit!”

Lance saw red, and before he could even decide if it was a good idea or not he sent a splash of water at Keith.

Unable to control the giggle that bursts out of him at seeing Keith, shocked and looking like a drowned rat, Lance sends another splash of water. Unfortunately for him, Keith dodged it. Stripping out of his now soaking white shirt, Keith dives into the water and chases Lance down.

“I WILL END YOU” the red paladin shrieks sending a fist of water straight for Lance. Laughing, Lance dives back into the water. Keith might be able to beat him on land, but the water was where Lance had the high ground so to speak.

Keith doesn’t know how long they splash around in the pool, all he remembers is that at some point the sadness in Lance melted away and ~~his friend~~  his comrade was all giggles again. If splashing around in a pool for a few hours was what it took to get the real Lance back, then Keith didn’t mind the face full of water he had to endure.

At some point, both boys ended up wrapped from head to toe in towels lying on the beach chairs beside the pool.

“How did you get into the academy?” Lance asks, breaking the silence that settled over the two since exiting the pool.

Keith shrugs, not really sure what kind of answer Lance wanted from him. But this was a side of Lance he had never seen before. A softer side, an honest side.

“I didn’t have much growing up.” He starts slowly, not wanting to turn this into a dramatic life story kind of thing. “I guess I always thought that there had to be something better out there. I couldn’t find it on Earth, so I thought that if I could go into space I would find whatever it was I was looking for.”

“What were you looking?” Lance asks without missing a beat.

 _Home_ , Keith thinks but decides to stay silent for a moment. “I’ll tell you when I find it.”

Lance hums approvingly and the two go silent again. It was peaceful, being with Lance tonight. Normally a silence between the two headstrong paladins was full of anger and unresolved tension, but not now. In this moment, Lance wasn’t picking a fight with him. In this moment, Lance was almost a calm and warm presence. Like sitting in front of fire when there’s a blizzard outside. Just safe, and warm, and comfortable. It was unnerving for Keith, driving the normally silent boy into trying to start the conversation up again.

“Why did you join?” He asks, copying the question from earlier to avoid awkwardness.

“I guess I just always loved space, tbh.” Lance isn’t looking at him. He isn’t looking at anything really, he closed his eyes a while ago giving Keith the perfect chance to memorise the boy's features and count the freckles that are lightly dusted across his nose.

“Wait, what?” Keith is drawn out of his counting when he hears an unfamiliar phrase. “What does _**t b h**_ mean?”

Suddenly bright blue eyes are burning into him and it takes Keith an embarrassingly long time to realise that it’s because Lance opened his eyes. There’s a mischievous glint in those brilliant blues that makes Keith instantly panic.

“You mean you don’t know retro Earth slang? Damn. I knew you didn’t know a lot about Earth but this is just sad. You’ve never heard someone go LOL? BRB? IDK?”

Lance takes Keith’s blank stare as an answer.

“I can totally fuck with you now,” Lance smirks. “It’ll be like talking in a code you don’t understand!”

Keith thinks about protesting, but the excited energy burning in those eyes makes him bite his tongue. “Whatever dude. I bet I could figure it out!”

Lance laughs. He laughs and it feels like the sun has come out from behind the clouds and is shinning down on them.

“Okay niño bonito,” Lance replies, smugly.

The next hour involved Lance talking in that stupid.. hecking.. code thing that Keith couldn’t understand. Eventually the blue paladin fell asleep, it was nearing 4am now. Sighing, Keith picked the other boy up and started walking back to their rooms.

Lance started to stir and began to mumble incoherent things into Keith’s shoulder about halfway up the elevator.

“Speak up if you want me to hear you, idiot.”

Lance responds in what Keith assumes is a mix of Spanish and the code language Lance had been using all night. Finally sleepy Lance said something that Keith could sort of understand.

“You know niño bonito, if you’re ever DTF you should talk to me. I’d always be DTF you.”

“Yeah okay buddy.” Keith mutters, making a mental note to ask Hunk what DTF meant in the morning. 

Getting Lance into his room proved to be a bit of a struggle, with his hands full (of Lance) the red paladin practically kicked the door down- sending Lance into a fit of giggles. Getting the blue eyed boy into his bed was even worse. The second Keith tried to put Lance down, the blue pilot became squirmy and demanded that he stay with Keith because Keith was "warm" and the bed was just "so damn cold! Don't put me through that, niño bonito I don't think I'd survive!"

Keith rolled his eyes and dropped Lance as gently as he could onto the bed. "Are you always so dramatic?"

Lance smiles sweetly in response. "G'nite niño bonito."

"Goodnight, Lance."

 


	2. Just Stop Doing What You Do To Me, And Get The Fuck Out Of My Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Did I fucking stutter, Blue? I said I'm DTF if you are."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't like this one as much as i did the first chapter, but i also am so tired of working on that im posting
> 
> comment if you want to  
> comment even if you don't want to
> 
> ily all, you all gave such nice comments last chapter it was so heartwarming
> 
> hunk and pidge are in this chapter to represent how my friend and i talk about klance. she is hunk, i am pidge. "DID YOU SEE MY BOY SMILE" is a direct quote from one of our conversations no joke

 

* * *

 _I like you_  
_Why can't that be enough for you_  
_I'm trying really really hard_  
_To impress you (that’s obvious...)_  
  
_You're all that's ever on my mind_  
_No matter how hard you try_  
_Just stop doing what you do to me_  
_And get the fuck out of my dreams_

* * *

 

Keith walked into the kitchen early that morning assuming that’s where he would find the yellow and green pilots so that he could ask them about that weird… whatever the hell Lance was speaking last night.

 

“Hey Keith!” Hunk greets warmly with his trademark smile, covered head to toe in flour. Hunk had the kind of smile that could make flowers grow.

 

“Hmkn kddiesht” is all that can be understood from Pidge, as the green paladin was currently dangling upside down off one of the counters eating what looks like their third container of peanut butter.

 

“Morning Hunk, careful Pidge- peanut butter will kill you if you eat too much of it.” He teases. Unfortunately, teasing Keith sounds like serious Keith. Pidge flies into a sitting position.

 

“WHAT! Hunk! Buddy! Tell me it’s not true!” Pidge practically shrieks in horror.

 

Hunk grabs his stomach in laughter, causing a cloud of white powder to fly into the air and a small green paladin to chuck one of their empty peanut butter containers and Keith’s head.

 

“Hey! Easy Pidgey! I already got beat up enough for one day!”

 

“Don’t. Test. Me. Boi.”

 

“Easy you two,” Hunk scolds, true to his Mom Friend™ nature. “Did you and Lance fight again?” He looks back over at Keith, concern written all over his face. _Give it a minute,_ Keith thought, _he’ll offer to bake sympathy friendship cookies if I don’t answer correctly._

 

Keith paused, thinking how to answer. He couldn’t really tell these two that he and Lance had a bonding moment last night. Even thinking about it sounded weird.

 

“No,” Keith started slowly. “We didn’t fight. We just, sort of, tripped over each other a bit?”

 

"Hmm. So what do you need? Want some tea? Peanut butter and jelly? I can whip up a mean bowl of Cheerios." Pidge says, a teasing smirk on their pale face. Hunk laughs at this, everyone on the castle knew that Pidge couldn't cook worth shit and that peanut butter and jelly is about the extent of their cooking capabilities. 

 

"Ah no. There is something you can help me with though. Lance kept talking in this weird… code? It was like a language, but different.” Keith wondered if he explained it well enough.

 

“Keith…” Pidge starts slowly, as if talking to a toddler. “Sometimes, Lance speaks Spanish.” Their words are slow and soft, with clear separation between each word. “It’s a language, like English, but different.”

 

“I KNOW WHAT SPANISH IS PIDGE!” Keith yelled, picking up the peanut butter container from earlier and throwing it back at the annoying child in green. “This was different. It was like, letters? He just spoke a bunch of random letters and said they all meant something but I don’t know what that something is.” Keith finishes in a frustrated sigh.

 

“Oh!” Hunk exclaimed suddenly. “I bet he was using early text speak! We watched old Earth movies back at the academy and people used acronyms to send messages faster! Like, um, oh! IDK means I don’t know! It made texting so much faster dude, we used it to pass notes back and forth in class. Ah, good times”

 

“THAT’S WHAT HE WAS SAYING LAST NIGHT!! Hunk you’re a genius!! What about DTF? What does it mean?” Keith asked, confusion clear in his features.

 

“Wait, did Lance tell you DTF?” Pidge ask, a smirk working it’s way up their features.

 

“Yeah! Is it bad?”

 

Pidge and Hunk exchange a look.

 

“Just, think about Lance. And think about if there is anything Lance would want to do. And then try to figure out the acronym.” Hunk says gently.

 

“It’s bad, huh?”

 

Silence.

 

“FINE! I’ll figure it out without you!” Keith turns to storm out of the kitchen. It’s just an acronym, he could figure that out, right?

 

Pidge laughs and goes back to their peanut butter, “good luck Keithy boy!” They call after Keith in a sing song voice.

 

* * *

 

Lance woke with a name on his lips and a dream of familiar grey eyes that he couldn’t quite place. Stretching and blinking a couple times the blue pilot tried to recall the previous night.

 

 _Keith_.

 

Keith was the type of person who orbits in and out of everyone's lives like a comet. Sometimes, Lance wonders if any place will truly ever be his home. It seems too weighty a concept, heavy in all the ways that never quite suited an enigma like Keith.

 

 _I wonder how long it will take Keith to orbit out of our lives_ , Lance thinks sadly.

 

But the memory of last night, the memory of the pale boy scowling in frustration when Lance used text slang or spoke Spanish had the Cuban laughing slightly.

 

The look of shock painted across Keith’s face when Lance splashed him sent his quiet laughter into a fit of giggles that ended up making Lance fall out of bed in his hysteric state.

 

 _Keith_.

 

Quieting down, Lance runs a hand through his hair only to find, well, he wasn’t quite sure what he found. Tilting his head in confusion, he pulled on whatever was stuck to his forehead.

 

_A… sticky note? Keithy left a sticky note?_

 

**Next time you fall asleep in the pool, I’m leaving you there. You’re heavy as hell and I have a bruise on my side from where you kicked me, asshole.**

**-Red**

 

Without realising it, Lance is smiling fondly. _Red_. He remembers falling asleep on the pool deck, but he doesn’t remember Keith carrying him back here. A blush forms on the tan boys skin as he tries to remember it.

 

Alas, the blue pilot can’t remember anything. But he’s heard from Hunk (and Pidge- who was beyond annoyed) that sleepy Lance is even clingier than normal Lance, which might explain the bruise Keith mentioned.

 

Deciding that life isn’t complete if he doesn’t have his red paladin to pester, Lance gets out of his swim trunks (thank GOD Keith didn’t try to change him last night) and puts on his normal outfit before leaving to hunt down his favourite little pilot.

 

* * *

 

_Just, think about Lance. And think about if there is anything Lance would want to do. And then try to figure out the acronym._

 

Keith remembers Hunk’s voice, clear in his head. _What the hell does that even mean though?_ The red pilot slashes his sword in anger, barely missing his fighting buddy that the castle created for him.

 

“Hey Red!” He hears a familiar voice call, but ignores it in favour of stabbing his opponent.

 

Suddenly there’s a sharp pain in the back of his head. “Ow! Lance, what the fuck?!” He yells, looking at the shoe Lance had apparently thrown at him to get his attention.

 

“We get it Red, you’re a good swordsman. Now stop showing off and come to the team meeting.” There’s a teasing tone to Lance’s voice that makes the already angry paladin furious.

 

“Yeah? Well if you want me there why don’t you make me? Asshole.” Keith doesn't actually mind Lance's company, though his face says otherwise.

 

Lance laughs. “Aw, did niño bonito not get enough sleep last night? Poor baby.”

 

Keith is beyond livid at this point and throws his sword at Lance, who dodges it effortlessly.

 

“Deep down, I knew you always wanted to fight me. Now stop being stubborn and come with me. Oh! And give me my shoe back.” Lance turns with flare, honestly does this boy have to make everything a theatrical performance?

 

Keith can't help but to chuckle at the boy in front of him. Lance was like a star, burning himself up just to shine the brightest. And deep down, or maybe not as deep as Keith would like, he's glad that Lance annoys him. He's glad that such a bright and intense person like Lance would ever be captivated with someone like himself. Even though Keith is just such a small constellation compared to Lance, he's glad Lance found him.

 

* * *

 

_Deep down, I knew you always wanted to fight me._

 

_Deep down, I knew you always wanted to fight me._

 

_Just, think about Lance. And think about if there is anything Lance would want to do. And then try to figure out the acronym._

 

_Deep down, I knew you always wanted to fight me._

 

_To fight me…_

 

_Fight me…_

 

“HUNK!” Keith jumps up from his seat, startling the two paladins beside him. “HUNK HUNK HUNK!!”

 

“I’m literally right beside you buddy, you don’t have to yell.”

 

“I think I know what DTF means!” Keith is bouncing up and down excitedly.

 

“Oh yeah? What?” Pidge asks, suspicion clear in their voice.

 

“Down to fight.” It just made sense right? Hunk said to think about what Lance wants to do, and the blue pilot was always annoying him. Obviously that meant Lance wants to fight with Keith. Right?

 

“Yeah!” Hunk says, before Pidge can burst out laughing and ruin the moment. “That’s totally what it means dude!”

 

“Sweet!” Keith punches the air in victory which Hunk thinks is both the lamest thing ever and the cutest.

 

“Hey Keith, you should totally tell Lance.” Pidge interrupts, mischief clear in those hazel eyes.

 

“GREAT IDEA! I’ll go now!” The red pilot bolts out of the room excitedly.

 

“They’re so gay for eachother.” Pidge says, a moment after Keith leaves.

 

“You’re evil, Pidge. BUT DID YOU SEE OUR SMILEY BOY? I live for smiley Keith, no joke.” Hunk says, somewhat sadly.

 

“If anyone can bring out smiley Keith, it’s Lance. They're both just so dumb for each other, and so in love. I sort of feel bad for them. What's the harm in us meddling a little?”

 

* * *

 

“HEY BLUE” Keith yells the second he steps into the pool.

 

“Yeah..?” Lance surfaces from the water slightly confused and a little out of breath from all the swimming. Keith has to stop for a moment as he takes in the boy in front of him. 

 

Lance had eyes like the ocean. But there was something about them that was different, his eyes weren't like the normal ocean waves Keith was used to. They were like tsunami tides, overflowing with emotion and warmth and love. Keith could never breath when he looked into them, so he looks away. Which makes it a bit of a shame that Lance never notices Keith gazing at him like he was the only person in the world.

 

“I’m ‘DTF’ if you are.” Keith blurts out, remembering why he came into the pool in the first place.

 

The normally calm-cool-and-collected blue paladin turns bright red in an instant. _Where did he learn that?!_

 

“What.”

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also i started another voltron fic that has shiro in it!!
> 
> it's a college au and pidge is a stripper with lance


End file.
